Chapter 2461 - Department Store

"Strike people?! This Master is beating a dog!" Master Xia's aggression didn't diminish—he looked very much like he wanted to beat Manager An too. "Don't think of sliding past the matter of Fifth Concubine!"

Seeing a dispute arise, Chen Lin found it awkward to leave just then, so he paused to wait for things to calm down.

It was nothing unusual for powerful households to bully others and slap a few assistants. The first requirement for a shop assistant was to swallow one's anger. From starting as an apprentice, being beaten, scolded, and bullied was common daily fare. No matter how abused, insulted, or even beaten, one had to welcome customers with a smiling face.

Though Manager An came from a merchant family and had learned business since childhood, opening a shop meant encountering unreasonable customers. Business etiquette emphasized harmony bringing wealth. Encountering this kind of customer, one usually advised with good words, accepting a small loss rather than conflicting with them. But today's matter was truly too outrageous. He sneered:

"Fifth Concubine is not a member of my household. She has legs and goes where she wishes. Why come to me demanding the person? Master Xia had better go out quickly to search—don't waste time here and delay your master's business!"

Master Xia flew into a rage. "You old bastard! Think I don't know? Without that loose woman of your family seducing and abducting her, would Fifth Concubine have run? If you don't give an explanation today, don't think of keeping this shop open!"

Hearing the words "loose woman," Manager An's face showed anger. He gave a cold snort. "This is not Ming territory—it's not your turn to run wild here! Eighteen, blow the police whistle!"

An assistant responded and immediately ran to the street. Shortly, a sharp whistle pierced the air from outside.

Master Xia's face changed instantly, and he turned to leave. Manager An blocked the door sideways, sneering, "Master Xia! The whistle is blown. When the police come, I'll close the shop and we'll go together to the station to sort out right and wrong! See if my shop can stay open! Those two slaps weren't for nothing!"

Master Xia pushed and shoved, trying to leave, but Manager An wouldn't budge. Growing desperate, he shouted, "Do it!"

The servant landed a blow to the head, leaving Manager An dizzy and sitting on the floor. Master Xia seized the opening to dart out the door, and the servant leaped out after him. Both fled.

Seeing this, Chen Lin hurried out, helped Manager An up, and asked with concern, "Manager An! Are you all right?"

Manager An shook his head, blinked twice, saw it was Chen Lin, and said, "I'm fine. Many thanks, little brother..."

By then, assistant Eighteen had also returned. The two supported Manager An between them to help him stand. Eighteen said, "The patrol police will arrive immediately..."

Before he finished speaking, the clattering of iron-soled leather shoes running already sounded outside. Two patrol police officers entered through the shop door. "What happened?"

Manager An immediately gave a rough account. The leading policeman asked, "The person ran away?"

"Yes, but I know who he is..."

"Since that's the case, come to the station first to make a record. We'll summon the person tomorrow and process it then." The policeman looked around the shop. "Which one was beaten? Him?" He pointed his chin at Chen Lin.

Chen Lin said quickly, "Not me."

Manager An hastily explained, "He's a customer here looking at goods—this matter has nothing to do with him. The one beaten is a shop assistant, resting in back. The person was knocked unconscious and can't get up."

"Send the person to the health center, have a doctor take a look, and bring a diagnosis certificate to the police station tomorrow."

Chen Lin had seen many Australian police in Guangzhou, but this was his first time witnessing police handling a case directly. He found it novel. He watched the two policemen work methodically—first inspecting the scene, then questioning everyone present one by one and making records. Though the policeman taking notes wasn't particularly brilliant, often asking Manager An how to write certain characters.

After finishing the records of those in the shop, the policeman called Chen Lin over for questioning. Manager An said, "He's a passing customer. He was talking to me in the counting house just now and didn't come out—saw nothing..."

Chen Lin knew this was Manager An's kindness, not wanting him to get involved. But today's matter—that surnamed Xia had really bullied people too much. Relying on being a "Guest of an Elder" and knowing a thing or two about Australian police administration, Chen Lin said generously, "I saw everything from the doorway just now. I'll be a corroborating witness." He immediately recounted the situation in full detail and signed the record.

"Wait for news tomorrow," the policeman said, putting the documents into his file bag. "Come to the police station to process it then. You, this..."

"My surname is Chen."

"Living at Jasmine Hotel, right? If there's nothing, we won't look for you. If you need to appear in court, a notice will be sent to you—will you be in Lingao in the near future?"

"Definitely within three or five days." Chen Lin didn't know such a matter required "going to court" and was somewhat nervous. "If there's a summons, I'll definitely appear."

The patrol police left. Chen Lin saw it was getting late and hurriedly bid farewell. Manager An felt somewhat guilty: "...Shouldn't have dragged you into this."

"Don't speak like an outsider—we colleagues are one family. How can we let them bully us for nothing? Besides, this is under Australian rule; they can't act like high-and-mighty masters here!"

Manager An laughed. "Good, good! Unexpected that though little brother came from the mainland, your thinking is very progressive! Truly a hero of youth! Please come to the shop to chat when you have time."

Delayed by this incident, Chen Lin dared not stroll leisurely anymore. He ran straight to Friendship Department Store along the main street.

This Friendship Department Store was one of Lingao's two major department stores. Following the map along the main road, he soon arrived near Bopu Bay. His view suddenly opened up. Before him was a circular square, paved entirely with bricks and stones, very flat. In the center stood a statue—a general in military uniform on a leaping horse. Chen Lin was curious: Who is this? Could it be some famous general of the Great Song? Walking over and seeing the inscription below, he learned it was a statue of Han Fubo General Ma Yuan.

Right, the Australian army is the Fubo Army, and this Qiongzhou Prefecture was also pacified by Ma Yuan crossing the sea. Australians erecting his statue makes sense.

The Department Store building stood at the southeast corner of the square. Looking from afar, heads bobbed in front of the building—clearly prosperous business. The main building was only three stories high. From architectural style to volume, it was roughly no different from county department stores of the seventies. But in the eyes of most people in this timeline, this was already a "huge mansion." Across the top of the building, a line of huge Song typeface characters read: "Develop Production, Prosper the Market." The massive characters, each fully a person's height, combined with their red color, gave a strong visual impact even from a distance.

Friendship Department Store was positioned for the "Mass Market." According to Li Mei, it was aimed at "countryside" business. Because Bopu was centrally located in the county and near the sea, merchants traveling from outer counties and the mainland to Lingao mostly transferred buses and ships here. The large flow and gathering of people naturally created unlimited business opportunities.

Since it was positioned for "countryside" business, it couldn't be too concerned with "taste." It needed the shocking sense of "this is a big city" but couldn't be so luxurious and modern that people felt "this is not a place I should enter." Therefore, Li Mei had rejected various high-end, fancy design plans in the planning stage, choosing the simplest rectangular building and limiting it to three floors. Structures favored by various Senate public buildings—high atriums, verandas, roof gardens, curved stairs—were all avoided. Except for some crushed glass sandblasted patterns on the walls for decoration, the entire building could be called unadorned. This made Chen Lin, who had seen Great World and Longhao Bay Hotel, somewhat disappointed—too ordinary.

He strolled inside the building. The layout here differed from Guangzhou's Great World. Great World was actually more like a shopping mall of the old timeline or a lower-end "Market Street." Friendship Department Store was still a traditional counter store. The first floor was the tallest and brightest, with a ceiling height of nearly five meters. Though large gas chandeliers were installed here, to minimize safety hazards from the gathered crowds, large glass windows were used on the first floor. Enormous floor-to-ceiling glass windows made of countless panes, each nearly ten square meters, tried to bring in natural light and reduce dependence on artificial lighting.

However, this also brought side effects. For engineering reasons, a considerable portion of these huge windows couldn't be opened. Therefore, in summer, scorching sunlight would pour into the room in large quantities, while ventilation volume was insufficient to lower the indoor temperature. Given the Department Store building's huge volume, the various air conditioning systems available to the Senate were far inadequate. So in most seasons, awnings had to be put up outside the windows.

Only in the current season did sunlight shining through the huge windows feel comfortable.

The first floor sold high-frequency consumption goods. Chen Lin didn't know what "Fast Moving Consumer Goods" meant, but from the counter layout and corresponding signs, he could roughly see that the first floor sold food, alcohol, tobacco, candy, toiletries, hardware, and general merchandise. Though varieties were plentiful—a dazzling array—some high-end consumer goods familiar to Guangzhou people, like "National Scholar Unparalleled," "Nanhai Cigars," and "Limu Mountain Oolong," were nowhere to be seen. The counters sold mostly medium and low-end goods.

Even so, Chen Lin was still "shocked" by the wide variety of goods here. The fermented bean curd sold at the food counter alone came in more than ten different varieties. There was the simplest fermented bean curd, wrapped in vegetable leaves, matched with wine lees, with chili, fragrant, spicy, stinky, sweet... all kinds available. Purchasing was also very convenient. For retail, one didn't need to bring one's own container—specialized bamboo-woven small oil paper baskets were provided by the store. There were also specialized gift packages; outside the basket, they would put an exquisite box for you—paper, wood, or bamboo, diverse and beautiful to look at—but the price went up accordingly.

These Australians doing business truly rack their brains and haggle over every penny.

(End of Chapter)